The Master-Rat, A Murderous Urban Myth

An unpleasant urban horror that's not as mythical as you'd like.  Very likely either a competitor or ally of King Kockroach and his own army of vermin.  

This post also marks the end of my long-running project to do one of each possible pairing of villain approaches and archetypes.  All 252 of them.  Whew.  That was some work. 

The Master-Rat

The origins of the Master-Rat are unclear, but urban legends of things like him go back over a century and appear in large cities across the US and Europe.  It's possible he's not not a unique entity at all, merely an exceptional specimen of his kind.  The rats who invariably infest an area he frequents don't appear to be the same species at all, merely unnaturally large and prone to random mutations.

Despite his animalistic appearance, the Master-Rat can speak, mostly to taunt foes or threaten prey.  He identifies himself as Jenkin Brown, which suggests some familiarity with H.P. Lovecraft's writings and a sense of irony.  His motivations seem to be a mix of spite, territoriality and greed.  Jenkin intensely dislikes most humans.  Anyone who enters the urban hunting grounds he currently claims are seen fair game for him and his rodent followers, and he's even more vicious toward those who intrude upon his lair.  He also has a lust for human wealth even if he has trouble benefitting from it, and enjoys hoarding physical tokens like jewelry and antiques even more than cash.  He and his rats can get in almost anyplace, although their infiltrations are usually pretty unsubtle and leave signs of their presence in the form of gnawed holes, hair and droppings.

Description: A horrid freak of nature combining the worst elements of man and rat.  It has an ugly, sharp-toothed human face attached to a human-sized rat's body.  Each limb ends in a twisted human hand, and the thing shifts uneasily between a quadrupedal stance and an awkwardly hunched two-legged pose.  It stinks of filth and decay, and its voice has a grating squeaky quality to it.  

Gender: Male         Age: Uncertain         Height: 5'6"          Eyes: Bloodshot Brown

Fur: Mangy Dark Brown                     Skin: Caucasian                  Build: Horrible Rat-Thing

Approach:  Relentless                          Archetype:  Domain

Health:  50 + (5 x H)

Powers: Animal Control d10, Vitality d8, Agility d6

Qualities: Stealth d10, Fitness d8, City Rat d8, Criminal Underworld Info d6

Status: (# environment targets and challenges) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

No Escape From The Rats (R) When an opponent moves away from you, you may follow them and Hinder them by rolling your single status die.

Psychic Cannibal (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice.  Recover that much Health.  Remove those minions.

Rabid Swarms (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice.  Attack every target in the scene except yourself with those dice.  Remove those minions.

Rats In The Walls (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone or one zone closer to red.

Savage Vermin (A) Attack and Hinder using Stealth.  If the target status die is d4 or d6, use your Max + Min dice.  If target status die is d8, use your Max die.  If target status die is d10 or d12, use your Mid die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Enforced Order (I) If you have complete control over your surroundings, automatically succeed in an Overcome to organize rabble to accomplish a task.

Tactics

The Master-Rat is strange mix of cowardice and savagery when confronted, and prefers to let the swarming rats around him do the brunt of the fighting.  He can call them up in large numbers using Rats In the Walls, then either let them act independently, callously drive them into combat with Rabid Swarms or sacrifice them for his own survival using Psychic Cannibal.  No mater what, there are always more of them.  When he takes a more personal interest, he'll single out a low status-die victim and use Savage Vermin, either by himself with Agility in the pool or with lesser rats using Animal Control.  Anyone attempting to avoid him will at least be hampered by No Escape From the Rats, and Master-Rat will happily attempt Overcomes to restrict the movement of high-mobility heroes or ground flyers.

Jenkin rarely has his upgrade unless he and his rats have gone too long without a proper feast, at which point desperation will drive them to cunning hunting strategies using his mastery as well.

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Whenever Jenkin Brown is present and an environmental twist would introduce minions or a lieutenant to the scene, the GM may opt to replace whatever the normal options would be with his themed minions below.  These are automatically hostile to heroes and allied to Master-Rat as long as he's still active, but are removed immediately if he flees or is defeated.

Savage Rats d6 environment minion

Description: A dozen filthy vermin, each the size of a small dog and far more vicious.  They are frenzied beyond any sense of self-preservation.

Suicidal Savagery: Whenever you would take a saving roll against damage when your Attacker is close to you, you may opt to fail before rolling.  Instead, roll your die and deal that much damage to the Attacker.

Giant Mutant Rat d10 environment lieutenant

Description: A freakish rat-mutant the size of a grown man.  It may sport twisted extra limbs, tails or tiny heads, but however many eyes it has they all gleam with mad hate.

Frenzied Rat-Mutant: You receive a +2 bonus to Attack actions, but cannot take Boost or Defend actions.

Suicidal Savagery: Whenever you would take a saving roll against damage when your Attacker is close to you, you may opt to fail before rolling.  Instead, roll your die and deal that much damage to the Attacker.

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The Visitant, A Ghostly Gestalt

A ghostly monstrosity spawned by an a ritual from long ago, still haunting the lonely places of the world after 160 years. 

Visitant

The ectoplasmic entity known as the Visitant is believed to be the product of a botched ritual attempted by a circle of Confederate spiritualists in the 1860s.  The desiccated bodies of the seven members of the group were found by Union troops as the Civil War ran down, but their spirits appear to have been bound into a gestalt being that continues to haunt the world to this day.  The creature exists to solely prey upon the living, apparently hoarding the energies derived for some even more dreadful entity that exists beyond the veil.  Fortunately, it barely qualifies as sentient by human standards and spends much of its time lurking in lonely places marked by death, old or new.

The Visitant is composed entirely of flowing ectoplasm, which can vary its consistency from a ghostly vapor capable of oozing through solid objects to a repulsive viscous jelly that can constrict or smother a man.  Its principle form of attack is to interpenetrate a victim's flesh, causing spiritual agony and nerve trauma in the process.  The main mass can subdivide to create free-acting versions of itself, and can perceive the world through them as though they were still connected.  These smaller entities sometimes seem to pursue their own incomprehensible goals, suggesting that they may represent the vestiges of the original ritualists when not bound into the gestalt.       

Description: A swirling cloud of pale ectoplasm, about seven feet in diameter.  It has no fixed form, although patterns of light and shadow suggest something like a huge gaping maw and anywhere from two to thirteen vague eyelike shapes.  It groans and wails incoherently and is accompanied by a wintery chill and a faint smell of death.

Its minions are identical but proportionately smaller based on their current die size.

Gender: Unsure   Age: Dead Eight Score Years   Height: Varies   Eyes: Mere Hints of Shadow

Hair: None                     Skin: None                  Build: Amorphous Mass of Ectoplasm

Approach:  Relentless                                Archetype:  Legion

Health:  15 + (5 x H)

Powers: Intangibility d10, Remote Viewing d8, Part Detachment d6

Qualities: Imposing d10, Ectoplasmic Mass d8, Otherworldly Mythos d8, Stealth d6

Status: (# of Legion Minions) 0 - d12 / 1-2 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 5-8 - d6 / 9+ - d4

Abilities:

Ectoplasmic Predation (A) Attack and Hinder using Intangibility.  If the target status die is d4 or d6, use your Max + Min dice.  If target status die is d8, use your Max die.  If target status die is d10 or d12, use your Mid die.  

Eerie Schism (A) Add two minions of size equal to one size lower than your current status die.

Empowerment (R) When one of your allies Attacks an opponent, roll your single Ectoplasmic Mass die and add that much damage to the Attack.

Flowing Unity (R) When one of your minions is destroyed, roll its die.  Recover that much Health.

Mixed Intent (I) Whenever multiple legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Defense Shield (I) You cannot be damaged by anything except yourself until the defense shield is destroyed.  The shield has 40 Health, or can be deactivated with three Overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist working on the shield, you can use a Reaction to Attack that hero by rolling your single Part Detachment die.  Gain Reestablish Shield (A) Overcome using Intangibility.  Use your Max die.  On a success remove one success from the deactivation challenge.  Alternatively, instead of an Overcome, use your Max die to Recover that much of the shield's Health.  This ability cannot be used if the shield has been completely removed.

Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving eldritch forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of otherworldly entities beyond human concerns.

Tactics

Visitant is an animalistic predator but still surprisingly cunning when it comes to stalking prey.  It takes full advantage of its surroundings and its powers to keep its main mass safe while sending out its minions with Eerie Schism to hunt and feed.  The thing is particularly fond of battling in graveyards where it can lurk safely below ground inside coffins, using Remote Viewing to time when to emerge using Intangibility.  It can augment damage from such safe hidey-holes using Empowerment when its minions Attack or heal when needed with Flowing Unity, although observant heroes may spot ectoplasm streaming to or from its main mass when it uses those reactions.  Visitant rarely spawns more than four minions at once to minimize the limitations of Mixed Intent and to keep its status die high for the moment where it lunges into view to use Ectoplasmic Predation on a hero with a weak status die.

Its upgrade reflects being gorged with life energy which it will seek to transfer to whatever otherworldy entity it serves with its mastery. 

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Riot, Malicious Wild Card Villain

A wild card villain who just wants to see the world burn and chaos reign.  Bit like a much more malicious Johnny Crisis, albeit operating on a less cosmic scale.

Riot

Riot's true identity (if ze even has one) remains unknown, as does ze's motivations beyond an obvious love of chaos.  Ze seems to just show up at other villain's more high-profile jobs at random, as well as appearing at public events of all kinds.  Ze has a special fondness for protests but doesn't seem to actually support any cause, social, political or otherwise.  Ze is all about chaos and opposing organized efforts to accomplish anything.

To date Riot's observed powers include the ability alter perceptions, implant mental suggestions in human minds, and change zir own physical form within a broad range of adult human characteristics.  There's some debate about whether there's also degree of reality shaping involved, based on apparent manipulation of the local environment.  Either that or ze is impossibly lucky and people become very prone to psychotic breaks in zirs presence.

Description: Who knows?  This villain is a shapeshifter and can look like any reasonably adult human, albeit not a convincing duplicate of any specific person.  Illusions similarly conceal whatever real clothing is worn, and alter zir voice to whatever desired.  Some exotic senses may partially defeat the disguise, but otherwise even identifying zir is difficult. 

Gender: Variable (Ze/Zir)           Age: Variable            Height: Variable           Eyes: Variable

Hair: Variable                               Skin: Variable                                 Build: Variable

Approach: Leech                   Archetype: Domain

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Illusions d10, Suggestion d8, Shapeshifting d6

Qualities: Conviction d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Subtle Psychic Violence d8, Stealth d8

Status: (# of Environmental targets/challenges) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Agitator (A) Hinder multiple targets using Illusions.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.  If you roll doubles, Attack one of those targets using your Max die.

Innocent Victim (R) When Attacked, redirect the Attack to an environmental minion.

Mind-Meddler (A) Hinder using Suggestion.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Boost using your Mid die.

Mob Violence (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice.  Attack every target in the scene except yourself with those dice.  Remove those minions.

Stir The Pot (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone or one zone closer to the Red.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Brainwashing Zone (I) +10 Health.  While the scene is in the green zone, all heroes' qualities of d8 or higher are reduced by one die size.  In the Yellow zone all of the heroes' qualities of d10 or higher are reduced by one additional step (two die sizes total).  In the Red zone, all heroes' quality dice are treated as d4.  Heroes can remove this upgrade with three overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist while taking these Overcomes, they lose access to a quality entirely until this upgrade is removed.  If a hero is knocked out while this ability is active, create a new friendly minion with a die size equal to the hero's largest power die to represent the brainwashed hero.

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Riot just wants to see the world burn and laugh while it happens.  Ze doesn't really do the "tactics" thing, much less strategy.  Zir favorite trick is to Stir The Pot repeatedly, building up the number of environment minions available to play with.  They fuel zir Innocent Victim reaction if ze's spotted by heroes or the law, and even small numbers of them can cause catastrophic damage when spurred on to Mob Violence.  Ze also finds it amusing to use Mind Meddler to hand out mods almost at random, and often Boosts environment targets or Hinders whichever hero or villain has annoyed zir most recently.  Heroes struggling to deal with challenges in a coordinated fashion will likely draw a use of Agitator, especially if they're trying to bring down Riot's upgrade (if in play).

Zir's upgrade can be pretty crippling for heroes' Overcome actions, and zir's mastery is exactly what you'd expect it to be - a bit of predictability Riot would be deeply annoyed about if zir realized it.    

Design Notes

Riot is designed to fit with any environment where there are twists that introduce regular humans (so not alien planets, exotic dimensions, etc. - although they might work with a human's dream or mindscape environment) and act as a third party who just wants to see chaos run amok.  They're more likely to oppose heroes than they are most villains, but a real control freak or pompous mastermind might draw their ire as much as even the most civic-minded hero.  Riot doesn't really have plans as conceived, and is likely to slip away quietly when a scene starts to bore them - usually after leaving the whole place in ruins after one last use of Mob Violence.

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Ivan Kranjo, Citizen Supreme of Brulgovia

A dreadful Cold War stereotype who's evolved into a dreadful modern stereotype, because every hero deserves an opportunity to punch a dictator in the nose.

Ivan Kranjo, Citizen Supreme of Brulgovia

Ivan Kranjo has been Citizen Supreme of Brulgovia since the communist revolution overthrew the former constitutional monarchy in the early 1900s, but he never seems to age and retains an iron grip on power even in 2023.  Rumors of super-science youth treatments, black magic, or a long succession of body doubles or clones are rife outside of the nation, but within it the loyal Citizens accept his longevity without question.  While not actually a supervillain himself, the Citizen Supreme has the backing of an entire nation of fanatical followers, access to various super-tech gadgets from tame scientists and the international black market, and considerable diplomatic protection from his status as head of state.

In the Gold and Silver Ages he was beholden to Moscow and acted as a proxy for them throughout the Cold War, serving as a stereotypical communist schemer that was invariably stopped from stealing NATO scientific secrets by patriotic Western supers.  After the fall of the USSR Brulgovia became a rogue state with Kranjo still in place as an autocrat.  The country continued to pursue its own shady interests and became a notorious haven for unethical scientists and minor villains on the run.  Think "less backward and deprived North Korea in Eastern Europe, but with supers and mad science rather than nukes" and you've got the general vibe of the place post-Soviet Union.

Description: A big hairy bear of a man who bears a striking resemblance to Joseph Stalin if he was wearing Fidel Castro's facial hair.  Always dressed in a Brulgovian military uniform loaded with self-awarded medals and ribbons, with various gadgets, weapons and defenses concealed beneath.  He has a deep voice with a thick vaguely Eastern European accent and knows how to use it best for motivational speeches and issuing commands...or threats.

Gender: Male     Age: Always Seems Forty-Something     Height: 6'2"     Eyes: Black

Hair: Black, Mustachioed & Bearded     Skin: Caucasian     Build: A Great Bear Of A Man

Approach: Adaptive                   Archetype: Overlord

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Gadgets d10, Intuition d8, Presence d8, Vitality d6

Qualities: Leadership d10, Conviction d8, Paranoid Head of State d8, Self-Discipline d8

Status:  (# of Minions & Lieutenants) 9+ - d12 / 5-8 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 1-2 - d6 / 0 - d4

Abilities:

Citizen Supreme (A) Use an action ability of one of your allies.

Cracking Skulls (A) Attack using Gadgets.  Use your Max die.  Defend yourself against all Attacks until your next turn using the number of your minions in the scene.

Do Not Fail Me! (R) Reroll any number of minion saves against the same Attack.

Finest Brulgovian Technology (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Gadgets die.  Boost yourself using the same result.

Forward! For Brulgovia! (A) Boost using Leadership for all your minions until the start of your next turn.

Taking Names (I) On your turn, whenever you Attack a target you haven't dealt damage to yet this scene, Boost yourself using your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Personal Shield (I) You cannot be damaged by anything except yourself until the defense shield is destroyed.  The shield has 40 Health, or can be deactivated with three Overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist working on the shield, you can use a Reaction to Attack that hero by rolling your single Gadgets die.  Gain Reestablish Shield (A) Overcome using Gadgets.  Use your Max die.  On a success remove one success from the deactivation challenge.  Alternatively, instead of an Overcome, use your Max die to Recover that much of the shield's Health.  This ability cannot be used if the shield has been completely removed.

Master of Conquest (I) As long as you are in command of your own forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to seize an area or capture civilians.

Tactics

Ivan Kranjo is a brash and overconfident foe as long as he's accompanied by a group of his loyal subjects, but is quick to look for an escape route as their numbers dwindle.  He'll usually spend his actions on Forward!  For Brulgovia! initially, increasing his lackeys' effectiveness while he defends them with Do Not Fail Me! or himself with Finest Brulgovian Technology.  If things are going well he'll start collecting bonuses by using Cracking Heads to trigger Taking Names.  These bonuses are likely to be used with his Mid die when imitating abilities with Citizen Supreme, either to add more minions, heal and Boost himself, or Hinder foes and Defend himself.  Note that the relevant lieutenant has to be in play to use their ability, so Kranjo's options diminish as casualties mount.  He may also benefit from allied villain abilities if any are present, of course.

His upgrade greatly improves his defensive technology while the Personal Shield lasts, and his mastery reflects his lust for conquest perfectly. 

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The lieutenants below represent typical members of Ivan Kranjo's personal entourage, and it would be rare not to see at least one example of each accompanying him into a potential conflict.  Multiple Section Leaders are most common within Brulgovian borders, although Companion Guards are more often seen on the rare occasions when the Citizen Supreme goes abroad on a diplomatic mission or similar excursion where he can't bring whole regiments of soldiers with him.  When Kranjo uses his Citizen Supreme ability to imitate one of their action abilities, he builds a die pool as usual and uses the Mid die for all effects.

Brulgovian Soldier d8 minion

Description: A proud soldier of the glorious Brulgovian State, equipped for war or peace with the product of our mighty industries, determined to serve the Cause and the Citizen Supreme with unshakeable bravery no foe can match.

Trained To Obey: You gain a +1 bonus to all your rolls as long as an allied lieutenant or villain is nearby, otherwise you suffer a -1 penalty instead.

Companion Guard d10 lieutenant

Description: An elite bodyguard in the direct service of the Citizen Supreme, every fiber of their being dedicated to ensuring the safety of the head of the Brulgovian State and lesser VIPs.  Most are specially selected for their attractiveness, thereby distracting the weak-minded foes of the Cause.

Fanatical Determination: Whenever you would fail a save against damage and you do not already have a penalty, ignore the failed save and receive a -2 penalty.

Skilled Bodyguard: As an action, you may Defend a nearby villain and Hinder, applying the resulting penalty to all Attacks made against that villain until the start of your next turn.

Personal Physician d8 lieutenant

Description: Only the finest medical practitioners in all of Brulgovia are selected for service as personal physicians to the Citizen Supreme.  They are tasked with ensuring he remains in perfect health no matter what futile poisoning schemes are attempted by foreign agents or faithless traitors.      

Brulgovian Medical Science: As an action, you may both Boost a nearby villain and allow that villain to Recover Health equal to your die.

Non-Combatant: When making a save against damage, you suffer a -1 penalty to the roll.

Section Leader d10 lieutenant

Description: A junior officer of the Brulgovian armed forces, courageously leading his loyal men into action and directing their efforts to best serve the Cause and the Citizen Supreme, driving enemies of the State before them no matter the odds. 

Summon Reinforcements: As an action, roll your die and add half that many Brulgarian Soldier minions to the scene, rounding fractions up.  Mods apply to this roll before rounding.

Veteran Survivor: When rolling to save against damage, you gain a +2 bonus as long as there are any Brulgovian Soldier minions nearby.  If you succeed at the save, remove one of those minions.

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Design Notes

If it isn't obvious already, do not build action scenes with this guy unless you include some of his signature lieutenants, particularly the Section Leaders.  Kranjo relies on them to both deploy minions and to give him more abilities to borrow from with his Citizen Supreme trick, and as an Overlord archetype he'll underperform badly without them.  You might be able to make him work without actual minions (or a minion summoning trick) if you have enough lieutenants (perhaps using minor supervillains to fill that role), but it will leave him with several "dead" abilities.

Trivia

Both Brulgovia and Kranjo's name are homages to the old Tom Swift Junior series, which occasionally featured the forces of both Brulgaria and (less often) Kranjovia as opposition to the heroic young inventor.  Both were transparent stand-ins for satellite states of Russia, which was pointedly never mentioned by name.  Kid's books during the latter part of the Cold War could be kind of strange.

Also, his name is pronounced "ee-van" not "eye-van" and if there's one thing that really makes him angry, it's getting that wrong.

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Savior RSRD, Emergency Response Drones With Some Minor Security Issues

Search and rescue drones aren't villains - but they do get hijacked by them sometimes.

Savior RSRD

The Savior Remote Search & Rescue Drone system is an experimental new emergency response tool for dealing with disasters, major accidents and other potential mass casualty events - including some superfights.  The humanoid Savior drone itself serves as an on-the-scene control and communications relay for a whole network of specialized rescue drones.  These drones are operated remotely by experienced former firefighters, EMTs, hazardous material handlers and others, most of whom have gotten a little too old for field work anymore.  Working safely from a distant HQ, these professionals use their drones to carry out quick and efficient rescue work, first aid and medical transport, and containment of fires, dangerous chemicals, and structural collapses.  While expensive, a city with a Savior system in place is overall a much safer place to live.  Most of the time, anyway.

The Savior system isn't cutting edge technology by super-tech standards, and its security protocols (both physical and electronic) just aren't up to snuff when it comes to super-criminals.  While not designed for combat, the specialized drones are equipped for clearing debris and breaching structures in search of injured victims, evacuating them swiftly and safely afterward.  Those same capabilities make them useful for all manner of grandiose heists, penetrating security, cracking safes and "evacuating" loot or kidnap victims with the same efficiency.  This has led to multiple cases of villains and criminal organizations temporarily hijacking a Savior system to carry off a specific job or just go on a crime spree.  Both heroes and the authorities have learned to be wary around Savior drones, keeping an eye out for them suddenly going rogue.

The worst incident to date followed a major earthquake that left a large part of [campaign city of choice] damaged and burning.  Three different Savior networks were scrambled to help deal with the disaster - only for all of them to go berserk.  As heroes and emergency services personnel struggled to deal with things, the rogue drones seemed to go crazy, starting to loot one building only to suddenly stop and turn to new targets without finishing the job.  A small team of supers discovered there were multiple signals overriding the legitimate Savior control systems, each apparently with conflicting goals.  Quickly tracking the coded transmissions to a secret lair on the fringe of the city, they found an ongoing three-way battle between the villains Doctor Robotico, Miniac and Horde, all of who had the idea of exploiting the Savior drones for opportunistic larceny as the city burned.  The heroes attacked, only to see the feuding villains unite against them and call in a virtual army of hijacked drones for support.  It might have ended in a crushing defeat, but at the last moment an unidentified fourth party* seized control from the villains and turned the Savior networks back to rescue work, leaving the three tech-villains to receive a well-deserved beatdown while the drones helped save thousands of lives.         

Description: A chunky, barely humanoid robot almost four feet wide with a rectangular head, body and limb segments.  It sports a large cluster of antennae and multi-directional camera lenses on it blocky head and spinning emergency lights on each squared-off shoulder plate.  The whole thing is painted red and white to evoke an ambulance feel.  It speaks with a loud PA system that can also double as an ear-piercing siren.  

Gender: None     Invented: 2023     Height: 5'6"     Optic Sensors: Dull Black

Antennae: Chrome     Chassis Plating: White & Red     Configuration: Blocky Humanoid

Approach: Generalist                   Archetype: Overlord

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Robotics d10, Awareness d8, Part Detachment d8, Sonic d6

Qualities: Medicine d10, Persuasion d8, Repurposed Emergency Response Drone d8, Finesse d6

Status:  (# of Minions & Lieutenants) 9+ - d12 / 5-8 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 1-2 - d6 / 0 - d4

Abilities:

Improvised Offense (A) Roll all your minion dice and combine the result to Boost yourself.  Attack using Robotics and use that bonus.

Optimized Safety Protocols (I) Whenever your roll a one on a die, reroll that die once.

Protective Intervention (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Part Detachment die.  Boost yourself using the same roll.

Network Control (A) Boost using Repurposed Emergency Response Drone for all your minions until the start of your next turn.

Resilient Frame (I) Reduce physical and energy damage dealt to you by 1, 2, or 3 when the scene is in the Green, Yellow, or Red zones respectively.

Summon Rescue Drones (A) Use Repurposed Emergency Response Drone to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die.  The starting die size of for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Subsonic Projectors (I) +10 Health.  The heroes act as being in the Green zone for status die, ability access, and all abilities.  Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist while attempting these Overcomes, you may use a reaction to Hinder them by rolling your single Infernal die.

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

A Savior RSRD system is not designed for combat, much less supervillainy.  When hijacked for such inappropriate functions, it relies on Summon Rescue Drones to call in help, most of which isn't very good in a fight either.  Once it has enough support it relies on Network Control to make its drones quite a bit more effective and it can keep them in a fight longer with Protective Intervention.  Its own Resilient Frame makes it tougher than it looks, but it still fights directly only when hard-pressed.  Its most effective Attack is to pool Robotics and Medicine, deploying a jet of biostasis gas or anesthetic injectors as an Improvised Offense.  Optimized Safety Protocols improves its overall performance even when operating as an impromptu crime machine.

With its upgrade, the Savior RSRD activates the subsonic projectors carried for calming panicking crowds, while its mastery reflects the unpredictable antics of whatever villain is behind the joysticks.  

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Savior drones of all types may appear as environment targets or hero allies when they haven't had their controls overridden by villains.  

Emergency Response Drones d4-d12 minions (see Summon Rescue Drones)

Description: A bewildering variety of robotic drones optimized for search and rescue work, some built for firefighting and clearing rubble and wreckage, others for locating and safely extracting disaster victims, and still more for field treatment of casualties or medical evacuation.  All are brightly painted in white and red with rotating emergency lights and powerful siren/PA systems.

Adaptive Mobility: You can move as though you had Flight d6 or Swimming d6 or Wall-Crawling d6 as needed to navigate the scene of a disaster or accident.

Specialized Rescue Drones: You receive a +3 bonus to Overcome actions involving search and rescue, emergency medical treatment and disaster response activities, although they still follow the minion rules when dealing with challenges (see page 156).  When you take an Attack action, roll your die twice and take the lower of the two results.

Savior RSRD d10 lieutenant

Description: This is the lieutenant version of villain above, primarily for use when the the ER drone network is performing properly and not being hijacked by criminals.  Replace it with the full villain writeup if it turns coat during a scene.

Drone Network Controller: Any nearby Emergency Response Drone minions may reroll ones rolled on their dice once.

Enhanced Disaster Response: As your action, you may roll your die and add that many d8 Emergency Response Drone minions to the scene.

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*The "unidentified fourth party" was La Chatarerra, but she's not talking about it because it would spoil her rep in the villain community.  Tonia may be greedy and gleefully violent at times, but her family and friends lived in that broken, burning city those other three sociopaths were letting die while they hijacked the rescue drones that should have been helping.  She'd have stopped them sooner if the quake hadn't half-buried her own lair in a scrap tsunami, but the minute she got herself dug out she took steps.  First she subtly pointed the heroes at the source the interference, then she did some hijacking of her own while her "peers" were distracted.  Showed them whose tech is just junk, even if they'll never know it.

There might even have been some mysterious junk-bots helping fight fires, stop gas leaks, handle downed power lines and carry people to safety that day, but no one looked into those rumors too closely and Tonia's fine with that.  She's not some idiot hero, after all.

Blog Content Index

Diminisher, Mysterious Microversal Marauder

A being from the microverse, embiggened in search of prey - literally a big game hunter.  

Diminisher

A mysterious marauder from the sub-dimensions of the microverse, the Diminisher enters our (to her) macroversal continuum in search of living (or at least animate) specimens to carry back home with her.  What fate they meet in the process remains unknown, as the few who've returned have either had their memories scrambled or escaped before reaching her intended destination, becoming lost in sub-space.  In many ways she's the polar opposite of the Macronaut, although her motives are more suspect than the abstract scientific interests of that towering Overspace denizen.

Diminisher has the ability to distort the spatial dimensions of those she hunts, effectively shrinking and depowering them.  The process takes time and effort to fully complete, but the initial stages are quite debilitating when used in combat.  She also appears to able mentally control fully-processed specimens, and can partially re-enlarge them to varying degrees to serve as assistants and bodyguards - or perhaps hunting hounds might be a more accurate term for their role.  She can also radically alter her own size at will, although shrinking seems to be easier for her than growth and she's never been seen to enlarge beyond 15' or so in height.  Finally, she displays great skill at taking down targets with as little injury as possible, and her armor gives her considerable physical strength and protection.  

Description: A feminine humanoid dressed in snug but all-concealing powered armor and carrying a long Kirby-tech staff.  The helmet's design is exotic and its wearer may not be human at all.  Her voice is obviously altered and artificial, sounding like a TTS program that sampled from dozens of voices, both male and female.

Gender: Female     Age: Unknown     Height: 6'1"     Eyes: Unseen

Hair: Unseen         Skin: Unseen          Build: Feminine, Concealed By Exotic Power Armor

Approach:  Dampening                      Archetype:  Overlord

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Size-Changing d10, Dimension Distorter d8, Power Suit d8

Qualities: Science d10, Imposing d8, Microversal Hunter d8, Stealth d8

Status:  (# of Minions & Lieutenants) 9+ - d12 / 5-8 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 1-2 - d6 / 0 - d4

Abilities:

Firsthand Attention (A) Attack using Power Suit.  Use your Max die.  Defend yourself against all Attacks until the start of your next turn using the number of your minions.

Inverted Distortion (R) When Attacked by a hero with a penalty, ignore their damage and remove a penalty on that hero.

Release Specimens (A) Use Science to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die.  The starting die size of for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.

Specimen Reduction (A) Hinder one target using Dimension Distorter.  Use your Max die.  That penalty is persistent and exclusive.  As long as that penalty is on the target, reduce their highest power die of your choice by one die size.  Also Attack using your Mid die.

Valuable Specimens (R) Reroll any number of minion saves against the same Attack.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually in effect when working alone):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a Safari Transit Craft d12 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene:  Escape Plan (R) When Diminisher is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than Diminisher's current Health, both she and the vehicle escape the scene.  Minion Deployment (A) Add minions to an existing group equal to half the vehicle's current die size.  These minions are of a size equal to the highest die size already in the group.  If the vehicle has a bonus or penalty adjust the number of minions by that amount and then remove that mod.

Master of Conquest (I) As long as you are in command of your own forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to seize an area or capture civilians.

Tactics

Diminisher is here to acquire new and exciting specimens for whatever microversal zoo, circus, gladiatorial arena or scientific organization she works for, and she's not shy about tackling dangerous "animals" like human superheroes to accomplish that task.  Her preferred style when faced with targets that can fight back is to use Release Specimens several times at the start of the action, partially de-miniaturizing some of her mentally-conditioned previous captures to aid her.  She'll do her best to protect such Valuable Specimens with one of her reactions, and usually assigns her weaker minions to keep at least one penalty on each enemy so she can also use Inverted Distortion to protect herself.  Once she's got a proper horde of increasingly larger minions she'll try to target each hero with Specimen Reduction in turn while her stronger minions Attack them.  Anyone still standing after all that or who manages to chew through her minions too rapidly will get her Firsthand Attention as well.

If she has her upgrade her coffin-shaped Safari Transit Craft will be in the scene as well, using its Minion Deployment to add more of whatever her largest active minions are to the scene each round it can, as well as providing a quick getaway to the microverse when a hunt goes wrong.  She'll use her mastery and swarm of minions to collect large numbers of potential specimens to look over before selecting the best of them to bring with her.  This can result in further problems even after she's gone, since the specimens she abandons will eventually resume their normal size far from home and are often confused or hostile.

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Mentally Conditioned Specimens d4 to d12 minion (see Release Specimens)

Description: A wild mix of partially re-enlarged creatures that have been through Diminisher's full conditioning process and are now her de facto slaves.  They come from all across Earth's galaxy and possibly beyond, and many won't even be recognizable species.  Others will be more familiar, including kidnapped humans, possibly even individuals known to the heroes.  They vary wildly in size and combat ability depending on how completely they've been embiggened, from doll-sized d4 minions to alien beasts the size of a T-Rex at the d12 end of the spectrum.  Defeating them may break their conditioning and return to their proper size, although it's by no means guaranteed.

Surprisingly Dull: You have no special abilities.  Getting captured and going through the shrinking and mind control conditioning process and then being suddenly re-enlarged has taken a lot of you.

Blog Content Index

Antarean Power-Sucker, Spacefaring Leech

A dangerous form of astrofauna, mostly found while travelling through space but occasionally seen on planetary surfaces or in xeno-menageries.

Antarean Power-Sucker

Normally only a menace to space-faring civilizations, Antarean power-suckers have sometimes been unintentionally carried to backwater worlds like Earth by alien visitors.  The creatures can survive in most planetary environments but gravity wells and the lack of cosmic radiation disrupts their reproductive cycle, so at least they don't become a growing threat like many invasive species.  Even a handful of power-suckers can do a great deal of harm to a technological civilization, and they're tough enough to give even superheroes some trouble in removing or exterminating them.

When found in their native deep-space and far-orbit environments, power-suckers are a serious danger to space craft and orbital stations,.  With an adequate supply of energy to feast on their numbers can multiply rapidly.  A large infestation can interdict traffic across an entire star system, although once the food supply runs out they'll disperse quickly by creating cosmic space rifts and blindly jumping between stars in search of fresh hunting grounds.

Description: A faintly luminescent wormlike creature, almost ten feet long with a cluster of brighter eyespots at one end.  Bands of wriggling tendrils protrude from between each of its dozen body segments.  The whole outlandish creature squirms along in mid-air, blithely defying gravity.  When it spawns minions some of its tendrils separate from the whole and form a halo around their parent, forming an energy transference network.  Silent, but the being does cause considerable static interference on radio bandwidths.   

Gender: None        Age: Unknown        Length: 9'        Energy Sensors: Glowing Magenta

Tendrils: White-tipped     Integument: Dark Yellow-Orange     Build: Segmented Vermiform

Approach:  Leech                                Archetype:  Legion

Health:  10 + (5 x H)

Powers: Absorption d10, Cosmic d8, Flight d6

Qualities: Alertness d8, Cosmic Leech d8, Deep Space Knowledge d8, Otherworldly Mythos d8

Status: (# of Legion Minions) 0 - d12 / 1-2 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 5-8 - d6 / 9+ - d4

Abilities:

Disperse Squirmlings (A) Roll your single status die.  Deal yourself that much irreducible damage.  Create that many d6 legion minions.

Durable Squirmlings (I) Whenever a Legion minion with a die size greater than d4 rolls a save against physical damage, instead of the normal effects if it succeeds it splits into two minions, each of one smaller die size, and you take 1 irreducible damage.  If it fails its save, it is only reduced one die size rather than being destroyed.

Energy Sponge (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Absorption die.  If this negates the damage entirely, Hinder the Attacker and Boost yourself using the same roll.

Pattern Interference (I) Whenever multiple legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.

Power Leech (A) Attack one target using Cosmic Leech.  Use your Max die.  Hinder that target using your Mid die.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.

Tactics

Antarean Power-Suckers are nearly brainless and have little sense of self-preservation.  In combat they focus on draining energy from whatever source is most available while spawning waves of squirmlings as the next stage of their life cycle.  Their usual approach will be to use Disperse Squirmlings, draining their own energy considerably.  The next round they'll wait for the new minions to stabilize and start feeding energy back into them, doing massed Boosts in defiance of the limitations of Pattern Interference - each of them will usually produce a +1 bonus this way.  Once Boosted, the Power-Sucker will use Power Leech on a tasty energy source, pumping bonuses into the Min die to heal and repeating the move until full.  The following round it will spawn more minions, restarting the cycle.  While squirmling minions are pretty weak, Durable Squirmlings makes them harder to dispose of than they initially look.  Their parent will use its Energy Sponge reaction whenever possible, and may devote some of its bonuses to it to improve the chances of getting the rider effects for stopping all damage.

If the thing ever manages to get 13+ minions in play at once while the parent has at least 15 Health, they'll shift their tactics and start spreading out and Attacking and Hindering their foes sensibly to maximize their impact rather than suffering from Pattern Interference.  Even if they're mostly d4 minions at that point, they become quite a bit more of a threat at that point.

An upgraded Power-Sucker is an unusually old and successful specimen of the species, and its mastery will mostly be used for getting at particularly energetic food sources or escaping if a situation goes bad.

Blog Content Index

The Three Masters, They've Come From 69AD To Kick Some Butt

A trio of martial artist villains worthy of a Hong Kong action-fantasy movie.

The Three Masters

These three anachronistic martial artists originate from an alternate-timeline version of the Chinese empire in 69AD, which is secretly controlled by a conspiracy of sorcerous eunuchs who subtly dominate the Imperial court.  They've used magic rituals to come to the "future" of your campaign for some mysterious objective, and if the heroes don't stop them who knows what kind of temporal disruptions might take place?  All of them are decidedly villainous types, although they have their own unique approaches to evil and aren't equally committed to whatever they shared goal is.

Depending on how long they've been in the current time when the heroes first encounter them, they may or may not have made contacts within the criminal underworld.  If not they'll be working largely alone, although Master Fleeting Dream may be able to conjure up demonic or undead minions galore if he can perform the proper rituals.  They're all good at fitting in to the scum and villainy community and won't find it hard to recruit more modern help once they do make contact. 

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Master Fleeting Dream

Xiu Zhang is Master of the Fleeting Dream style, an accomplished sorcerer, and a proud (some would say egotistical) member of the conspiracy that secretly controls the Chinese empire in 69AD.  He serves as de facto leader of the Three Masters on their mysterious mission to the future, and his magical talents allow them to blend in to the world of 2023 as well as being their ticket back to the past.  As such, he expects the others to watch his back, obey his commands and remain loyal to him.  A pretentious, arrogant and evil-minded individual through and through, he might see two of those three expectations fulfilled if he's lucky.

His martial arts style uses a great deal of out-and-out magic in it, focusing on confounding opponents with illusion and trickery while he flits from victim to victim with enchanted blades flashing.  He also know how to scribe magical talismans (usually strips of paper with incantations written on them) to create good fortune and repel bad luck from whoever they're attached to.  These are usually used to enhance himself first and foremost, but he may deign to support his allies as well.  Given time and supplies (which may include a suitable sacrificial victim) he can manage many other feats of magic as well.

Description: A slightly plump, shaven-headed man with a striking Fu Manchu mustache, dressed in an expensive brocade robe in deep purple.  Often cloaked in sorcerous illusions to blend in better, or simply invisible to avoid attention.  His voice is surprising high and boyish.  He generally provides magical translation charms to all his allies in the modern day, which has the side effect of making their lips seem to be slightly out of synch with their words. 

Gender: Imperial Eunuch And Proud Of It     Age: Thirties     Height: 5'8"     Eyes: Green

Hair: Shaved Smooth     Skin: Light East Asian Tone     Build: Slightly Soft-Looking

Approach: Ninja                   Archetype: Inventor

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Dream-Cutting Blades d10, Inventions d10, Illusions d8, Invisibility d8, Teleportation d6

Qualities: Magical Lore d10, Stealth d10, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Finesse d8, Master of Fleeting Dream Style d8

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Fleeting Dream Onslaught (A) Attack multiple targets using Master of Fleeting Dream Style.  Then, end up wherever you want in the scene.

Inscribe Talismans (A) Boost using Inventions.  Use your Max die.  Boost again using your Mid die, then either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.

Powerful Chi (I) Whenever you create a bonus, increase the value of that bonus by one.

Vanishing Image (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Stealth die.  Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Waking Dream (I) +10 Health.  The heroes act as being in the Green zone for status die, ability access, and all abilities.  Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist while attempting these Overcomes, you may use a reaction to Hinder them by rolling your single Infernal die.

Master of Mysticism (I) If you have access to proper materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation involving harnessing magical forces.

Tactics

Master Fleeting Dream relies on misdirection, illusion and trickery.  He usually avoids immediate conflict while using Inscribe Talismans supplemented by Powerful Chi to give lasting bonuses to himself and allies, relying on Vanishing Image to protect him from harm (and produce more bonuses, although these won't affect his status) while he does so.  Once his status die is maxed out and his allies have received whatever benefits he feels they deserve, he shifts to using Fleeting Dream Onslaught to repeatedly appear and disappear while striking as many foes as possible.

His upgrade expands his ability to alter foes' perception, trapping them in a dreamlike illusion.  His mastery lets him create powerful ritual magic effects when supplied with suitable tools, including the temporal passage that brought them to the modern day (or the heroes to the past) in the first place.

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Master Five Venoms

Master Five Venoms' true name is unknown, possibly even to himself.  A master spy, assassin, and infiltrator, he works with the conspiracy controlling 69AD China but isn't fully trusted by them, which is something he admires about the organization.  Trust is for fools.  He (or sometimes she, as the mood takes them) adopts and abandons surface identities regularly, relying on practical disguise and acting skills rather than Master Fleeting Dreams' magical tricks an cunning enough that he can get along fairly well in 2023 even without such assistance.  It's quite possible he might choose to remain in the future after the Three Masters complete their mission, most likely faking his own death to do so.

The Five Venoms style includes a great deal of secret alchemical knowledge beyond mere poison making, including truth drugs, fast-acting medicinal substances, mind-altering vapors and powders, and artificial pheromones that can manipulate many types of animals.  It also offers near-immunity to most poisons and, some say, unnatural longevity or even immortality.  Masters of the style are invariably accompanied by swarms of venomous vermin, which they use both as alchemical components and as an army of chemically-controlled minions.  While each individual stinging scuttler, biting bug or slithering serpent is little threat to a wary human, they never appear as individuals, and many a foe has fallen screaming under a tide of tiny crawling horrors.  

Description: Wildly variable thanks to a talent for disguise, but most often an unassuming local civilian in loose fitting clothing.  At close range their unpleasant chemical scent may give the game away.  When fighting openly, they favor a loose green gi marked with ominous stains and acid burns.  Close observation will reveal they're crawling with vermin infesting their clothing and whatever wig they may be wearing.  They're excellent mimics and can imitate most human voices and some animals.   

Gender: Fluid   Age: Usually Seems Twenty-Something   Height: 5'9"   Eyes: Black

Hair: White (Black Wig)        Skin: Dark East Asian Tone        Build: Deceptively Fit

Approach:  Leech                      Archetype:  Overlord

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Toxic d10, Animal Control d8, Wall-Crawling d6

Qualities: Criminal Underworld Info d8, Master of Five Venoms Style d8, Medicine d8, Stealth d8 

Status:  (# of Minions & Lieutenants) 9+ - d12 / 5-8 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 1-2 - d6 / 0 - d4

Abilities:

Alchemical Effusion (A) Boost using Medicine for all your minions until the start of your next turn.

Enduring Vermin (R) Reroll any number of minion saves against the same Attack.

Stinging Strike (A) Hinder using Toxic.  Use your Max + Min die.  Boost using your Mid die.

Toxic Powders (A) Hinder multiple targets using Toxic.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.  If you roll doubles, Attack one of the targets using your Max die. 

Venomous Little Friends (A) Use Master of Five Venoms Style to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die.  The starting die size of for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.

Tactics

Master Five Venoms prefers to toy with his foes in combat, leaving the actual killing work to his verminous minions.  He'll usually call on his Venomous Little Friends once or twice at the start of a conflict to establish a decent status die, with each use helping improve the size of minion generated by the next.  Repeat as needed to maintain at least a d8 status.  Multi-target minion sweeps will be met with an Enduring Vermin reaction, and he'll single out heroes with such abilities with Stinging Strike, often taking a twist to make the penalty last for two uses, representing hurling whole handfuls of poisonous insects onto the target.  If there are several heroes focusing on his minions he'll use Toxic Powders instead, spending any available bonuses wherever they seem most useful (healing, improving the penalties, possibly even on damage if he rolls doubles).  If he starts his turn with 5+ minions in play he'll usually switch to Alchemical Effusion rather than acting for himself, trying to deal out massive damage while he has the chance.

His upgrade improves his durability and all his powers, as well as enabling his mastery whenever one of his mods from a Toxic-keyed ability is in play.      

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Five Venoms Swarm d4 to d12 minion (see Venomous Little Friends)

Description: A miscellany of carefully-bred and venomous vermin, including spiders, centipedes, wasps, small serpents and scorpions, as well as less readily-identifiable creations of alchemical hybridization.  What prevents them from scattering or preying on one another is a mystery known only to masters of the Five Venoms Style.  The larger their current die size the denser the swarm is.  

Inescapable Swarm: When you Attack, one point of the damage you deal is irreducible.

Painful Venoms: When you deal damage to a target, they gain a -1 exclusive "Stinging Pain" penalty.

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Master Shackled Fist

Wong Lo is undisputed Master of the Shackled Fist style and an all-around badass brawler.  Once a mere village bully, then an Imperial army levy, he soon deserted to join a mercenary company where he would be paid better for his talent for fighting.  He crossed paths with an aging Shackled Fist practitioner during the course of his adventures and quickly took to the new role of student until he'd surpassed his teacher.  At that point he killed the old man, stole his life savings, and went off to make a name for himself in the world of martial arts fighters, always pursuing any road to wealth that opened before him.  It wasn't long before the eunuch courtier conspiracy approached him to employ his brutal skills in their service, which has now led him to an unimagined future.

His Shackled Fist fighting style mixes savage close quarters techniques with deadly chain-fighting maneuvers that offer some reach and the ability to entangle and drag in elusive opponents.  It also trains endurance and fighting spirit to the limits of human ability, and perhaps a fair way beyond.  Generally seen as a simple style suitable only for thugs, Wong Lo has taken it beyond that stereotype.  He employs his own unique moves along with unexpected cunning to surprise foes who've taken him for merely being an over-muscled thug.

Description: A powerfully built brute of a man, wearing sandals and a white gi with the sleeves ripped off.  He has a steel circlet on his brow and carries a twelve foot length of chain with a hinged iron shackle on each end, donning one or both of them during combat as he performs various moves.

Gender: Male        Age: Thirties        Height: 6'0"        Eyes: Dark Brown

Hair: Shaved, Black Stubble     Skin: Medium East Asian Tone      Build: Ape-Like Brute

Approach: Skilled                         Archetype: Guerrilla

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Fighting Chains d10, Vitality d8, Swinging d6

Qualities:  Close Combat d10, Fitness d10, Acrobatics d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Master of Shackled Fist Style d8, Self-Discipline d8 

Status: (# of Enemies Engaged) 4+ - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 0-1 - d6

Abilities:

Blur of Iron (I) If you are outnumbered by nearby opponents, reduce all damage dealt to you by two.

Entangling Chains (A) Attack one target using Master of Shackled Fist Style.  Use your Max + Min die.  Defend against all Attacks from targets other than that target with your Mid die until your next turn.  All Defended damage is dealt to the target of your Attack instead.

Versatile Style (A) Take any basic action using your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid die.

Whirling Chain Deflection (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Close Combat die.  Deal that much damage to another target.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Group Fighter (I) +20 Health.  When you take an action that lets you make an Attack, also make an Attack using your Mid die.

Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics

Master Shackled Fist prefers to face his foes in a group, charging into their ranks to use their numbers against them with Entangling Chains and Blur of Iron while further protecting himself with Whirling Chain Deflection as needed.  More cunning than the simple brawler he appears to be, he's quick to use his Versatile Style for unexpected moves and some healing when injured.  Sudden Hinders, Boosts or Overcomes to start challenges or reposition foes are all popular choices.

His upgrade improves both damage output and base Health.  His mastery reflects his greed.  He's here for the pay offered by the Eaters of the Lotus and that alone.

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Design Notes

If it somehow wasn't obvious, the backstory of these three is taken straight from the Shadowfist card game and original Feng Shui RPG.  Not the first time I've done an homage to that superlatively strange setting.  Probably won't be the last.

Blog Content Index

Angel Arrow, Cyborg Operative of SIN

An archer-themed villain with an angelic motif, and yet another asset for the Science Integration Network.

Angel Arrow

The cyborg known as Angel Arrow was once merely Agent D6745308 of SIN, part of Hell-Hawk's cadre of airborn assault troops.  She was horrifically injured by a flame-wielding super during an operation, and the medical experts at SIN HQ were ready to declare her a lost cause - permanently disabled by burns and showing minimal brain activity following injuries from a multi-story fall.  That might have been the end of her story, but her former commander Arno Wells felt a twisted sympathy for her, having suffered serious burns in a childhood airplane crash himself.  Working with SIN's cybernetics experts he saved her life if not her mind, rebuilding her as an advanced cyborg operative that melded his own aviform flight systems with hyper-advanced exotic munitions technology, integrated sensor arrays and cognitive assistance software to replace lost brain functions.

Angel Arrow is a technological and aesthetic work of art, but her humanity is gone.  Only marginally more free-willed than a true robot, she obeys directives from her masters at SIN without question.  If she ever recovers any of her memories or personality that might change - but odds are the mad scientists of SIN would regard such a development as a glitch in the system to be corrected rather a belated recovery.  For now she's usually found working alongside Arno when he takes the field as Hell-Hawk, but sometimes gets assigned to missions with other SIN assets where her mobility and hard-hitting, low-signature weaponry are most useful.      

Description: A female angel, plated in shining silver cyber-armor with gleaming metal wings.  She carries an ultra-tech longbow, drawing her arrows directly from her own pinions as needed.  She rarely speaks, but when she does her voice is cold and clear with a mechanical lack of inflection.

Gender: Female     Age: Mid-Twenties     Height: 5'9" (14" wingspan)     Eyes: Blank Silver

Hair: Flowing Black   Skin: Pale, Burn Scarred, Hidden By Silver Plating   Build: Angelic

Approach: Specialized                   Archetype: Inventor

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Inventions d10, Flight d8

Qualities: Ranged Combat d12, Alertness d8, Cyborg Servitor d8

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Adjusted Subroutines (I) Whenever you Attack a target that you have dealt damage to at least once already in this scene, gain a +1 persistent and exclusive bonus against that target.

Graceful Archer (A) Attack using Ranged Combat.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Defend yourself using your Mid die.

Supercharged Shot (A) Attack using Inventions and at least one bonus.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice and add all your bonuses, destroying them.

Targeting Programs (A) Boost using Inventions.  Use your Max die.  Boost again using your Mid die, then either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.

Volley (A) Attack up to three targets using Ranged Combat.  Use your Max die against one target, your Mid die against a second target, and your Min die against a third target.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.

Tactics

Angel Arrow is an airborne archer and does her best to stay clear of melee combat or getting hemmed in by tight terrain.  She looks for a chance to run Targeting Programs early on, usually establishing a persistent bonus on herself and improving her status die.  She might repeat the move to maximize her status if she has time, and will generally sit on her bonuses until she takes a Supercharged Shot.  When facing multiple foes she relies on Volley to spread damage around, switching to Graceful Archer if she's facing much counterfire.  In all cases she'll select targets to best exploit Adjusted Subroutines, stacking up the small exclusive bonuses (which are pretty pointless if she has a better one from Targeting Programs) to eventually fuel a bigger Supercharged Shot.

The improved hardware and software from her upgrade improves her dice pools and durability quite a lot.  Her mastery can only be used when she has a mod in play that was created using Inventions, which usually means one of the bonuses generated by Adjusted Subroutines after damaging a target for at least the second time.

Design Notes

There are a number of rules clarifications that GTG needs to make for some of her abilities and their interactions, but here we are at the end of 2023 and still no FAQ document.  Specifically:

• Supercharged Shot (originally the Inventor ability Empowered Destruction) functions as a villain equivalent to the hero Red ability Charged-Up Blast, but the wording here fails to include the text specifically calling out that the ability consumes all your bonuses regardless of exclusivity.  My assumption is that it does, so every bonuses gets added and then destroyed.
• Adjusted Subroutines (originally the Specialist ability Known Target) produces tiny persistent and exclusive bonuses every time you damage a given target beyond the first.  Those bonuses can only be used against that specific target, much like the Marksman hero Green ability Sniper Aim.  In both cases, it's unclear whether the Empowered Destruction/Charged-Up Blast abilities are meant to be able to consume these target-specific bonuses to improve damage against a different target.  My assumption is that they can (and must) do so, since the mods aren't being used normally, they're being destroyed as part of the ability.
• Adjusted Subroutines/Known Target also raises some question about exactly how the bonus is being generated for purposes of an Inventor's status die mechanics.  If you make an Attack that triggers the ability and includes either Inventions or Science or both in the pool, do the bonuses count toward status or not?  They're actually the result of an entirely different ability that doesn't use a die pool at all, after all.  My assumption is that they do count, but it would be nice to sure of the designer intent.

Blog Content Index

Baron Bowman, Stealing From The Rich To Give To Himself

An archery-themed villain, complete with a gang of supporters.  Metatextually, he started out as a rather silly but inexplicably popular Golden Age baddie, returned in the Silver Age without becoming any more serious, and still gets dredged up as a bit of a joke legacy foe in later eras without ever breaking from his "robot archers" and fake nobleman themes.  His schemes might get a bit more varied - holding Big Ben hostage until his title is recognized, for ex - but mostly he's a just a crook with a schtick.

Baron Bowman

Reginald Thomas Swinton comes from a wealthy family of American industrialists, but has an obsession with his family's supposed historical connections to the British peerage.  A severe and quite delusional anglophile, he dreams of acquiring enough wealth to "buy back" the baronial title he believes he's entitled to.  Since his own legally-earned assets (great as they are) don't come close to whatever fantastic sum he thinks will do the job, he's taken up a life of crime as Baron Bowman to enlarge his fortune.  Equipped with an assortment of high-tech gadgetry purchased on the underground market and supported by custom robots and very well paid criminal muscle, his heists are surprisingly well-planned and frequently quite profitable.

As Baron Bowman, Reginald maintains a sort of Evil Robin Hood vibe, robbing from pretty much anyone to give to himself.  He and his signature bow-bots both use high tech explosive arrows and vision-enhancement gear, which he further supplements with jump-jet boots, an array of stimulant injectors, and gauntlets that can channel a potent electrical charge.  He's also ably assisted by his "Baronial Guards" with their shock-swords and powered halberds.          

Description: A rather short but powerfully built man with a neat black mustache and goatee.  He wears a tunic-and-leggings costume reminiscent of Robin Hood, but all in black right down to the feather in his cap.  His boots, gauntlets, bow and quiver full of arrows are all clearly advanced technology, and he wears a pair of goggles with strange prismatic lenses that partially conceal his identity.  Blessed with a powerful baritone voice, he speaks bombastically with an upper class English accent.

Gender: Male     Age: 33     Height: 5'9"     Eyes: Striking Green

Hair: Jet Black          Skin: Swarthy          Build: Broad-shouldered, Athletic

Approach:  Disruptive                      Archetype:  Overlord

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Baron's Bow d10, Gadgets d10, Awareness d8, Leaping d8

Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Close Combat d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Delusional Nobility d8

Status:  (# of Minions & Lieutenants) 9+ - d12 / 5-8 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 1-2 - d6 / 0 - d4

Abilities:

Evasive Command (R) Reroll any number of minion saves against the same Attack.

Gimmick Arrow Volley (A) Attack multiple targets using Ranged Combat.  Use your Min die.  Hinder each target using your Max die.  If one of those targets rolls double on their next turn, they take damage equal to the value of the penalty they gained.

Noble Bowshot (A) Attack using Baron's Bow.  Use your Max die.  Defend yourself against all Attacks until the start of your next turn using the number of your minions.

Stun Gauntlets & Stim Packs (A) Hinder using Gadgets.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

To Me, My Bow-Bots! (A) Use Delusional Nobility to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die.  The starting die size of for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a Black Arrow VTOL d10 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene:  Bombard (A) Attack all heroes with this vehicle's roll.  Use this ability only if the vehicle is below its starting die size or the scene is in the Red zone.  Escape Plan (R) When Baron Bowman is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than Baron Bowman's current Health, both he and the vehicle escape the scene.  Minion Deployment (A) Add minions to an existing group equal to half the vehicle's current die size.  These minions are of a size equal to the highest die size already in the group.  If the vehicle has a bonus or penalty adjust the number of minions by that amount and then remove that mod.

Master of Profitability (I) If you have access to great wealth and other resources, automatically succeed at an Overcome to leverage those resources to get even richer, no matter who pays the price.

Tactics

Baron Bowman is a flamboyant combatant who thrives on attention, at least while he's adequately supported by guards and bow-bots.  Against a group he'll rely on Gimmick Arrow Volley to target as many foes as possible, reducing their effectiveness while inflicting some minor damage.  Key targets will be singled out for a Noble Bowshot launched from a safe vantage point among his lackeys' ranks.  He uses Evasive Command to protect his minions whenever possible, and will call more whenever their numbers dwindle with To Me, My Bow-Bots!  The Baron prefers to use his jump boots to remain at a distance to best display his archery skills, but if pressed in melee or badly hurt he has a surprise waiting with his Stun Gauntlets & Stim Packs.

With his upgrade he brings his signature Black Arrow VTOL to the battle instead of leaving it lurking nearby to deploy more bow-bots on command.  His mastery inexplicably lets him actually make a profit on his heists even when losing large numbers of his mechanical servants or his VTOL.

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Bow-Bot d4 to d12 minion (see To Me, My Bow-Bots! ability above)

Description: Slender humanoid robots painted matte black.  Their ball-shaped heads are featureless except for two rainbow lenses that resemble Baron Bowman's own goggles.  Each carries a high-tech bow and well-filled quiver of arrows.  Their combat software is unfortunately rather erratic, but when it's working at it its best they can be quite dangerous.

Programmed To Take Advantage: When you take an Attack action against a target with one or more penalties, gain a +1 bonus.

Baronial Guard d10 lieutenant 

Description: Tall, powerfully built women and men in ornate but somewhat archaic black uniforms with crimson frogging and epaulettes, glossy black boots and a white sash.  They carry a mix of electrically-charged swords and halberds as their main weapons, and are also sensible enough to carry concealed pistols (archaic motif be damned) for times when they find they've brought a figurative knife to a gunfight.

Elite Guard: When you target a villain with a Defend action, you may also Boost them with the same roll.  Decrease the value of the resulting bonus by one (minimum zero).

Iron Determination: You gain a +1 bonus to saves against damage.  Whenever you gain a penalty, reduce the value of that penalty by one (minimum zero).

Blog Content Index

The Odds, A Diverse Group Of Unfortunate Villains

A diverse group of villains, each with desperate needs of their own but at least temporarily sharing the same goal.

The Odds

Countless individuals have received superpowers (accidentally or otherwise) from exposure to mad science experiments over the years.  Some of them have gone on to become well known heroes or villains, having won fate's lottery and received potent abilities with few drawbacks - or such vast power that any accompanying drawbacks seem worth the cost.  Not everyone's a winner though, and the Odds are a diverse group of villains who got the short end of the stick when it came to things.  They've banded together in part to support one another's driving needs, although some are more desperate (and more open to manipulation) than others.

Oddment is the group's nominal leader, and they all current follow his goal of acquiring technology for growing them new bodies and transferring their consciousnesses to them.  He knows he's on the clock with a collapse into psychosis impending, but generally puts on a good show of being cool and in charge.

Vestige has devolved from a skilled scientist to a predator desperate to continue her existence by any means.  When well fed she's stable enough to contribute some useful knowledge about the legal side of the scientific community, although bioengineering and mind transfer are far outside her field.  She's discovered an odd resonance with Afterglow's powers, which serve to keep her from fading away more efficiently than others she's encountered.

The Homunculoid is a lost and monstrous bioengineering project.  Oddment has made it promises that it may not even care about.  The thing's motivations are its own and probably not rational at all, but something keeps it with the group.  The others suspect its creator may come looking for it eventually, a creator with obvious skills in genetically engineering new life forms that might help with their long term plans.

Afterglow is more innocent victim than the villain she's been cast as, but she's also immensely dangerous to the civilian population and suffering from extreme mental fragmentation.  Her rare moments of clarity might lead to connections in the shadier parts of the medical research field, which are only a short step away from mad science clone masters and experimental mind transfers.  Her radiation output is hard to keep damped down to even semi-safe levels, but Vestige's reality drains seem to help keep it under control, making them a symbiotic pair. 

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Oddment

Harrison Odell was once the mad science villain Cyber-Maker, a specialist in augmenting ambitious criminals with cybernetic upgrades that would make them true superhumans - and which included backdoor access that he could use to control them, slowly building a veritable army of cyborg muscle.  A coalition of several heroes and villains twigged to the scheme and cooperated to bring him down, destroying his secret mountain lair and catching him in an explosion no one could survive.  Unless, of course, one was a genius villain who had pre-programmed his robotic surgical assistants to preserve his life at any cost.

That cost proved to be the loss of his entire organic body and large parts of his once-great brain.  What remained was augmented with a digitized recreation of his old personality, installed in a life support capsule implanted in the sturdiest combat cyborg chassis available in the ruined base's emergency backup shelters.  No longer either Harrison Odell or his Cyber-Maker alter ego, the new hybrid of organic and digital minds took the supranym Oddment for itself and assessed its new existence.  Odell had always avoided creating "full-conversion" brain-in-a-tank cyborgs because they went unstable too quickly to be of use, and now he was one himself.  His artificial memory overlays would keep what was left of him rational for longer than most, but eventually the collapse would come.  The only solution was to find a way to create an organic host body before the inevitable, which was not something he could manage on his own.  He would need allies with similar end goals...or at least useful pawns for his pursuit of bioengineering and mental transfer technology.

Description: A large mechanical humanoid covered in variegated black, umber and tan scales over a dull metal chassis.  Its human head sits deep in an armored collar atop the chunky torso, although this is an android fake - the real brain and its life support system are deep within the the chest in a separate armored capsule.  The oversized forearms conceal a mix of cognitive modification mechanisms, while the chunky "boots" and backplate conceal jump jets for short bursts of speed.  His strong baritone voice sounds quite natural, even when coming from concealed speakers after his decoy head has been destroyed.

Gender: Male        Age: 48        Height: 6'4"        Eyes: Brown

Hair: Light Brown     Skin: Titanium Alloy, Variegated Scales     Build: Cyborg

Approach: Generalist                Archetype: Inventor

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Power Suit d10, Deduction d8, Inventions d8, Robotics d6

Qualities: Science d10, Combat Cyborg d8, Technology d8, Criminal Underworld Info d6

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Augmentation Mechanisms (A) Boost using Inventions.  Use your Max die.  Boost again using your Mid die, then either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.

Decrementation Mechanisms (A) Hinder multiple nearby targets using Inventions.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

Intercession (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Power Suit die.  Boost yourself using the same roll.

Simple Brute Force (A) Attack using Power Suit.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Superior Technology (I) Whenever you create a bonus, increase the value of that bonus by one.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Quality dice sizes except Combat Cyborg by one (max d12).

Master of Mad Science (I) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.

Tactics

Oddment prefers to let his allies to the fighting while he observes his foes and tunes his mechanical  body for optimal performance against them.  He'll usually open with Augmentation Mechanisms, taking a persistent bonus for himself and sharing the other with an ally.  He uses Intercession reactively to protect an ally every round he can, further Boosting himself in the process.  He may continue building up bonuses or handing them out if he's being ignored, or he may switch to Decrementation Mechanisms to debuff multiple enemies while collecting yet another personal bonus.  All of his Boosts will be improved by Superior Technology.  If his Health is getting low he'll switch to Simple Brute Force, possibly piling his accumulated bonuses into the Min die for a big Recovery or onto the Max die to land a big hit and take out a particularly problematic foe.

His upgrade comes from spending time optimizing his internal processors and improves both durability and dice pools, which is particularly helpful when he can bundle in a big d12 Science die with his two mechanisms abilities.  His mastery reflects his ability to carry out scientific and technological tasks quickly and reliably under pressure.

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Vestige

Once a respected dimensional science theorist pursuing the dream of a functioning FTL drive, Tatiana Roman had no idea she'd attracted the attention of SIN's Operations Directive until one of their acquisitions teams interrupted an experiment at a critical moment.  The resulting malfunction consumed half the research complex in dimensional collapse, pulling everyone there into a null-reality state.  Everyone but Tatiana.  She resisted the pull through sheer force of will, but was left as a living anomaly, constantly being drawn toward un-being.  Tatiana quickly discovered that she could stave off oblivion by siphoning some vital element of reality itself from others around her.  

Only other humans could provide what she needed, and most of them were simply too fragile and weak-willed to endure even a single feeding before fading away - but her first encounter with superheroes investigating the catastrophe taught her that they were far better sources of what she needed, even if they were also more dangerous prey.  And prey is what they were.  Dubbing herself Vestige, Tatiana determined to survive no matter what it required to do so.  She would endure until she found away to reverse the accident that had created her, and if others had to perish so be it.

Vestige was contacted by Oddment while she was on the run after her powers first manifested, offering her potential salvation by transferring her intelligence to a new form free from dimensional instability.  The fact that his last recruit Afterglow proved to be able to "feed" Vestige's hunger safely for extended periods has further cemented her otherwise-dubious loyalty to the group.     

Description: A ghostly image of middle-aged woman dressed in a white lab coat over a gray dress and low heeled shoes.  Her natural colors seem faded and the entire figure is nearly translucent when the light is behind her.  She does seems to shine faintly in actual darkness as though caught in moonlight, adding to her phantasmal appearance.  Her sharp features are twisted with frustration and anger, and her hollow voice seems to come from far away.  When using her powers to feed swirls of cold purple-blue energy seem to flow from her victims into her form.

Gender: Female         Age: Early Fifties         Height: 5'2"          Eyes: Faded Blue

Hair: Faded Gray          Skin: Fading Into Transparency              Build: Stick-Thin

Approach:  Specialized                         Archetype:  Domain

Health:  50 + (5 x H)

Powers: Absorption d10, Intangibility d8

Qualities: Conviction d12, Close Combat d8, Fading From Reality d8

Status: (# environment targets and challenges) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Call Victims (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone or one zone closer to red.

Destructive Grasp (A) Attack one target using Close Combat.  Use your Max + Min dice.  The target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack.

Endless Need (A) Attack up to three targets using Conviction.  Use your Max die against one target, your Mid die against a second, and your Min die against a third. 

Focused Hunger (A) Hinder one target using Conviction.  Use your Max die.  Attack that target using your Mid die.

Sacrificial Energy (R) When Attacked, redirect the Attack to an environment minion.

Siphon Reality (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice and Recover that much Health.  Remove those minions,

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, only if Vestige has been feeding in one area for at least a few days):

Mook Squad +0 Health.  Gain Call Fodder (A) Replenish your Depleted Fodder minions up to the number of heroes in the scene.

Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving eldritch forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of otherworldly entities beyond human concerns.

Tactics

Vestige's foremost concern is continuing her existence at any cost, but superheroes offer so much more "reality" to draw on than everyday people that fighting them is well worth the risks involved.  Against a single foe she'll rely on Focused Hunger (usually pooled with Absorption) at first, shifting to Destructive Grasp (often with Intangibility) if they display strong reactions or Defend abilities.  Against a group she'll reach out for as much energy as she can with Endless Need while using Sacrificial Energy to reactively use a minion for protection against Attacks.  Her sizeable base Health lets her hang tough in combat while accumulating environment minions with the occasional use of Call Victims for a single big Recovery using her Siphon Reality healing ability.

If she has her upgrade she may use Call the Fodder rather than rely solely on the environment for minions to victimize, although they're fairly inefficient "food sources" when used as such.  Her mastery reflects her jumping at any opportunity to cling to reality, even as a pawn of the terrible things that lurk beyond it.   

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Depleted Fodder d6 minion

Description: They can look like a female human of any age, ethnicity or occupation, but all are strangely faded, almost colorless and translucent as though they weren't fully real.  Obviously unnatural, they move like shambling phantoms.  Their touch is chilling, and their hopeless stare leaves victims feeling hollow and hungry.  

Last Dregs: You count as an environment minion for Vestige's Sacrificial Energy and Siphon Reality abilities, but your dice always count as rolling a one for Health Recovery or for saving against any damage inflicted when resolving those abilities.

Reality Leech: When you deal damage to a target with an Attack, the target also suffers a -1 penalty.

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Homunculoid

The creature known as the Homunculoid is an escaped bio-construct crafted from some horrific and utterly unethical manipulation of the human genome.  Who created it and what purpose they had in doing so remains unknown, lost behind memories of fire and chaos.  The thing knows only what it has gleaned from the minds that open to its telepathy, and takes its guidance only from the fleeting visions that run wild in its distorted psyche.  It literally latched on to Oddment when he accidentally encountered the Homunculoid in the ruins of another scientists lair, and has stuck with him since then.  Sometimes it dreams of having its mind transferred to a new, human body as Oddment has promised.  Other times it knows that promise was a lie, and is tagging along solely for the joy of the chaos his "ally's" plans will bring.    

Description: A clearly inhuman creature with a distorted human-like head over 18" across, set low between two powerfully-muscled shoulders leading to a pair of three-foot long arms that carry its weight.  An absurdly small humanoid torso in a red and green body-stocking dangles beneath that huge head, trailing two useless vestigial legs.  It mouth gapes open menacingly, equipped with teeth like crooked tombstones and panting steadily.  It speaks only telepathically, where its "voice" is an irritating shriek.  For all its awkward-seeming physique the thing is surprisingly nimble, bounding about on its powerful hands with ease.  

Gender: None (uses he/him)   Age: Unknown   Height: 3'2"   Eyes: One Blue, One Green

Hair: Stubbly Black                 Skin: Sickly Grayish-Blue              Build: Bizarre

Approach:  Tactician                          Archetype:  Fragile

Health:  15 + (5 x H)

Powers: Intuition d8, Telepathy d8, Agility d6, Leaping d6

Qualities: Alertness d10, Acrobatics d8, Murderous Bio-Construct d8, Stealth d6

Status: Green Zone Health - d10 / Yellow Zone Health - d8 / Red Zone Health - d6

Abilities:

Gestalt Awareness (A) Boost using Alertness.  Use your Max die.  The bonus applies to every ally's action until the beginning of your next turn.

Mindripper (A) Attack using Telepathy.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Surprisingly Agile (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single status die.  If the damage is reduce to zero, you may move to anywhere else in the scene.

Vindictive Behavior (R) When a nearby ally makes an Attack, you may also Attack the same target by rolling your single Murderous Bio-Construct die. 

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Quality dice sizes except Murderous Bio-Construct by one (max d12).

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

The Homunculoid is a pretty unstable combatant who undergoes radical personality shifts as he suffers damage.  While mostly healthy he concentrates on supporting his allies with Gestalt Awareness while evading strikes and staying mobile using Surprisingly Agile.  Once he reaches about half Health he switches over to making Mindripper attacks against whoever has hurt him most, throwing out more damage when allies Attack using Vindictive Behavior if he has a reaction left when the opportunity arises.  If he somehow winds up being the last villain standing he'll do his best to flee even if the opposition is looking pretty rough as well.

His upgrade relies on getting access to booster drugs tailored to his unique biology, while his mastery represents his quirky, erratic flavor of problem solving.

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Afterglow

Mary Curry was once a research assistant in fringe nuclear medicine before her unethical employers chose to use her as a test subject for their latest drug.  The chemical was designed to allow human tissues to absorb and metabolize even hard radiation without harm, and it succeeded spectacularly after a fashion.  Mary became a living atomic reaction, generating impossible amounts of some heretofore unknown exotic radiation and thriving upon it.  Moreover, the process seemed to be dividing her very being on some quantum level, causing her body and mind to partially fission over and over again before collapsing back in on itself.  Unfortunately for such a promising research project, her endlessly fragmenting mentality led her to take violent action that resulted in the termination of all involved staffers, the destruction of the lab facilities involved, and the irradiation of entire site.

That feat earned her the supranym Afterglow in the news media, and she's now widely regarded as a villain rather than a victim.  Even if she was stable enough to explain the situation as she understands it, she can't control her dangerous radiation output and remains a menace to everyone she encounters.  If Oddment hadn't offered her a haven after following the Homunculoid's cryptic guidance to the site of her first "destructive spree" she'd be in a government containment facility already, and quite possibly scheduled for euthanasia in the hopes it would end her out-of-control reaction.  Instead, she's stumbled into allies who might grant her a second chance at life in a new body - and she and Vestige serve to help stabilize one another's erratic powers through some unexplained resonance.

Description: A buxom woman glowing with neon green radiation, wearing a similarly glowing halter top, knee-length shorts and ankle boots.  As she moves she continually leaves afterimages trailing behind her, blurring into one another and making one person look like half a dozen or more.  She usually hovers casually just above the ground but can fly faster than most people can sprint.  She has a rich contralto voice that echoes with reverberations of her duplicate selves.

When she spawns independent legion minions they share her radioactive glow but don't leave a blur of phantoms behind them the way she does.

Gender: Female     Age: Early Thirties     Height: 5'6"     Eyes: Glowing Green

Hair: Flowing, Glowing Green        Skin: Glowing Green        Build: Curvaceous

Approach:  Skilled                                Archetype:  Legion

Health:  10 + (5 x H)

Powers: Duplication d10, Nuclear d8, Flight d6

Qualities: Acrobatics d10, Imposing d10, Fragmented Mentality d8, Medicine d8, Ranged Combat d8, Science d8

Status: (# of Legion Minions) 0 - d12 / 1-2 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 5-8 - d6 / 9+ - d4

Abilities:

Divided Mind (I) Whenever multiple Legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.

Fleeting Images (A) Hinder multiple targets using Acrobatics.  Use your Max die.  If you roll doubles, Attack each target using your Mid die.

Full Separation (A) Add two Legion minions to the scene.  Their starting die size is one smaller than your current status die.

Furious Response (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Imposing die.  Deal that much damage to another target.

Merge Energies (A) Remove any number of Legion minions from play.  Roll their dice and Recover that much Health.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Afterglow is well aware of her relative fragility and her tactics attempt to compensate for it.  She'll usually rely on Fleeting Images (using Duplication) to hamper as many heroes as possible with a short-lived swarm of duplicates, and can even inflict some real damage with them if she rolls doubles to keep them stable long enough.  Her Furious Response reaction both prevents and deals some damage, and can be a major source of damage output, especially with bonus support.  Once she loses even a small amount of Health she uses Full Separation to spawn a pair of d10 legion minions, ideally letting them act before her next turn before removing one or both of them with Merge Energies to heal.  Like all legion minions their actions are a bit limited by Divided Mind, but with only two of them in play they can generally avoid suffering its ill effects.  She almost never spawns more than two minions at once, preferring to cycle them in and out of existence to maintain as much healing as she can while still getting some further mileage out of them.  A lot of her effectiveness will depend on how initiative goes and how much support she gets from her allies.

Her upgrade reflects her getting either a significant charge of nuclear energy in the recent past or building up a charge over a day or two of relative inactivity, while her mastery draws upon the confusing nature of her multiple duplicate afterimages.

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Afterglow Duplicate d4 to d10 legion minion (usually d10, rarely d8)

Description: Physically identical to Afterglow, although their minds seem more focused and their psychic signature lacks the fragmented nature of their creator.  They share her flight and signature radioactive glare.

Exact Duplicate: You may move as though you had Flight d6, or d8 if Afterglow has her upgrade.

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